Small cell base stations are low power base stations that connect to a cellular service provider's network to extend the service provider network to a small area that would otherwise be subject to poor or no cellular signal coverage. A small cell base station, often referred to as a femtocell, connects to the cellular service provider's network through broadband communication (e.g., cable or DSL). When a user's mobile device enters an area where coverage is provided by a femtocell, the mobile device switches over from the macro cell coverage to the femtocell coverage in order to receive a stronger cellular signal. The small cell base station is part of both the local area network present in its installed location and the cellular provider's service network. A small cell base station also allows communication between mobile devices and other devices located in the small cell base station's coverage zone over the local area network. Small cell base stations can be configured to only allow certain registered users to use the small cell signal.
In some embodiments, the small cell base station may be a software defined radio that allows mobile devices to be used as endpoints in a Voice over IP (VOIP) network. Instead of forwarding call traffic through to an operator's mobile switching center, the software based small cell may deliver calls to a VOIP switch. This VOIP switch can be installed on the same processor used to run the software based small cell transceiver itself, forming a self-contained cellular network in a single computing device system. Multiple software based small cell transceivers can also share a common VOIP switch to form VOIP networks composed of individual computing device based cellular networks with a wider area coverage than the individual networks.